2013 Gini La Frosca Soave Classico 750 ml

2013 Sandro e Claudio Gini Soave “La Froscà”: French Laundry and an 8-Vintage Vertical at Del Posto

Rarely do we let others do the talking for us, but today we will.

Sandro and Claudio Gini’s Soave Classico La Froscà is one of the most richly textured white wines in Italy, a single-vineyard bottling that is known by sommeliers and collectors for its Burgundian complexity and age-worthiness.

Our first introduction to the Ginis’ “La Froscà” was at Del Posto in N.Y.C. With the 8-course Captain’s Menu, the sommelier didn’t propose one vintage of “La Froscà,” but FOUR. Perfectly aged, golden-hued bottles from 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2006 were paired with Fin Fish Susci del Giorno, Lobster Pansoti, Center Cut Veal Chop (the 2001 worked like a charm), and Rare Atlantic Salmon with a sour lemon sauce. While each vintage perfectly reflected its growing season in the Veneto, the honeyed, beeswax purity of Soave “La Froscà” was consistently on display.

Last year, we spent four hours at 6640 Washington Street in Yountville. There were 12 courses this time, including our favorite Thomas Keller dish, “Beets and Leeks,” Poached Maine Lobster in a puddle of beet and leek puree. This time it was the Ginis’ 2012 Soave Classico La Froscà that stole the evening’s thunder. Bright and youthful, weighty like fine Pouilly-Fuissé, crisp as a Premier Cru Chablis, the 2012 “La Froscà” was a baby, cutting the richness of the lobster like a knife.

But ask anyone at Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate or Wine Enthusiast — or in all likelihood the sommeliers at The French Laundry and Del Posto — to name the most inspired young Soave Classico La Froscà since the 1990s, and there will be complete consensus.

The Ginis’ 2013 is a northern Italian masterpiece. Pale green-gold. Exotic aromas of white flowers, mint, white peach, and Anjou pear, tinged with wet-stone minerality. Rich, weighty, and Burgundian in makeup, filled with tightly wound flavors of apple, peach, and a hint of pineapple, finishing with superb length and persistence. Drink now for its vibrancy in youth or far better, do as they do at Del Posto and lay this magnificent Soave Classico down for 10-15 years.

Depending upon the vintage, between $65 and $225 at Del Posto. $85 at The French Laundry. Just $19/bottle this morning on Wineaccess — as good as northern Italian whites ever get at under-$20 per bottle. Shipping included on 6.

P.S. This video, profiling Sandro and Claudio Gini, is beautifully done and worth a look: